Cold Filter

Cold Filter were a Saskatchewan hard rock band active during the mid-2000s, built around vocalist Al Morrison, lead guitarist Jake Webber, guitarist and vocalist Brad Morrison, bassist Tim Arsenault and drummer Tallus Scott. Their album Discovering Angels was recorded in Calgary at MCC Studios, with Josh Gwilliam producing alongside the band and handling the final mix.

The group were already working significant live stages by 2004. In July they appeared at Rock in the Valley in Craven, Saskatchewan, sharing the festival with a large Canadian and international bill that included Evanescence, Sum 41, ZZ Top, Seether, Finger Eleven, Default, 54-40, The Trews, Hawksley Workman, Nazareth and Chilliwack. In September, Cold Filter appeared at the University of Saskatchewan Engineers’ Hell Dance at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon.

Discovering Angels captured the band’s heavy, guitar-driven sound across ten original tracks. The music was credited collectively to Cold Filter, while the lyrics were divided principally between L. Kenny, Tallus Scott and Al Morrison. Morrison and Scott shared the lyric credit on ‘One Promise’, while Morrison wrote ‘Overload’ and Scott wrote ‘Flinch’ and ‘Grudge to the Grave’. Shelley Groves added violin to the closing ‘Weapon of Desire’.

The album was recorded at MCC Studios in Calgary with engineers Josh Gwilliam, Neil Meckelbourg and Joel Grundahl. Gwilliam produced the record with Cold Filter and mixed the sessions, with mastering completed at Infinite Wave Mastering in Calgary. Jason Arcand created the artwork and developed the album concept with Al Morrison and Tallus Scott.

Several members remained active in Canadian music after Cold Filter. Al Morrison later became the rhythm guitarist and vocalist with the Johnny McCuaig Band and Arcana Kings. Brad Morrison subsequently worked with Lounge Pistol and joined a later lineup of Joshua’s Habit. Tallus Scott developed a long career as a touring and session drummer, later recording and performing with Pistolwhips and W3APONS.

The surviving record of Cold Filter is small, but Discovering Angels and the band’s documented 2004 appearances place them firmly within the heavy Saskatchewan rock scene of the period, at a time when independent western Canadian bands could move from local clubs to festival stages alongside some of the largest rock acts touring the country.

-Robert Williston